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| Passionately promoting excellence in the environments designed for early childhood.

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It is AEC’s belief that a child’s early learning and growth is best achieved when the environmental conditions are right – which goes to say the architecture plays a pivotal role. We (as a society) need an architecture that says: ‘We believe in these children!’ as it is these very children who will one day be our future – so lets give them the very best start in life..

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So often the design of ECEC's schools and playgrounds have been dictated by durability, cost-savings and maximisation of space, whilst ...

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The school (or kura) has been awarded a NZIA Local New Zealand Architecture Award and is a Green Building Council School Tool pilot scoring 7 points out of 10, with plans to further enhance the site's biodiversity by: transforming the steep gully by eradicating the gorse and weeds and planting self-maintaining native bush of eco-sourced plants that belong to the Waitakere area and will attract native wildlife; to use the bush for teaching students about the plants, how they grow, what berries they produce, and what birds and other animals come to feed on the berries and live in the bush; and to have a school-wide project in which each new pupil provides a koha (donation) of a tree to plant in the gully.

The kura is designed as a clear flow of interconnected spaces enhancing the
sense of inclusiveness and community - values that are central to the
learning environment envisaged by the Whanau. Whilst the spaces are multifunctional, there is a clear delineation between the formal and informal. In this type of learning space, older children can help younger ones, and teachers can share knowledge and resources, whilst the space can also be used as a community centre for the whole whanau.

The NZIA describes the building as "a delight to be in", where "carefully considered cultural and teaching needs have been accommodated in a building that reinforces proudly the ambitions of the whanau and which provides an engaging and welcoming environment for the community... a unique, distinctive, community school that is rich in materiality and form."